


Nocturnes

by knightswatch



Category: Free!
Genre: Class Differences, Classical Music, Coming Out, Family Issues, Growing Up Together, Homophobia, M/M, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-08 17:23:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5506394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightswatch/pseuds/knightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's supposed to be something amazing—getting a mark was the most important indicator of adulthood as far as anyone was concerned, but something about it made him feel unsettled. He wasn't searching for a soulmate, he didn't have time to really start worrying about one already, and rather than do what a lot of his classmates seem to and immediately start showing it off at school, Sousuke keeps the information to himself and hopes no one notices it while he changes for practice.</p><p>And it works, for over a year. He doesn't go looking at anyone else for a shape that matches his own, and after a little curious poking around on the internet, he figures out that it matches the constellation Lyra, and he simply files it away in the back of his mind.</p><p>It doesn't become a problem of any kind until the week before his final year of high school begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. da capo

**Author's Note:**

> _Da Capo: From the beginning_

Sousuke is usually one of the last people to leave in the afternoons once school lets out. He hangs around like he might be waiting for a parent to come pick him up, or maybe an older sibling, and then once most of the other kids are gone, he turns and walks on slow legs back to the orphanage.

When asked, he still describes it as 'home', even though the word has never really fit. He treats not having a family like some kind of great, terrible secret, even though the teachers all know and send pitying looks at his worn shoes and poorly-fitted clothes. It burns somewhere in his chest, and he spends most of his days at this new school alone.

The truth is that he's _supposed_ to have a family. It's only his mom who died-- his dad is still alive somewhere, and he even has an aunt on his mom's side that he met a few times before she got sick.

But somewhere along the way, they all decided that they didn't want him, and now he's stuck on his own, with Amakata-san and the few other kids that she takes care of. They aren't really his friends either, and they certainly aren't his family.

He picks a spot on the sidewalk to stand and pretend to wait, letting his eyes skip over one of the boys in his class as he walks past. He's dragging a younger boy by the hand, laughing high and loud and pushing red hair out of his face. Only, unlike anyone else, he stops directly in front of Sousuke. "Hey!"

"Hey," he frowns slightly as he answers. He's only been here for maybe two months, and at least it's long enough to know that the boy's name is Rin, and that he doesn't know the boy clinging to Rin's hand, staring up at him with wide blue eyes and the smallest smile on his face. Rin pokes his thumb against the center of his chest, nodding his head.

"You should come play with us!" His voice is still too loud as he declares it, and he turns his head to look at the smaller boy with a lopsided grin, nodding a little too hard. "Right, Ai?"

"It's more polite to _ask_ Yamazaki-kun if he _wants_ to come play with us," Ai's words all come out neat and tidy, in a soft voice. Rin rolls his eyes, not seeming bothered at all by the scolding. It looks like he might have squeezed Ai's hand even a little tighter in his at that, but it's hard for Sousuke to tell entirely. He hesitates, looking around like he might have someone coming for him still.

"Where are you going?" He asks after he finishes faking. Rin's eyes positively sparkle at the response and he bounces slightly on the balls of his feet.

"Ai's house! It's really huge and there's a whole forest behind it that we can go play in," he talks about it like some part of the big house and the big forest belongs to him, and Sousuke envies it a little. 

"It's okay if you can't come," Ai chimes in once again, smile growing slightly wider, making the edges of his eyes start to crinkle a little. "We can play a different time."

The offer hits him strangely-- it seems like a foreign concept that they want him to come along at all, let alone that there's more than one chance to make friends. Rin nods his head eagerly along, and Sousuke rolls a small shrug with his shoulders before nodding his head. "Okay. I can come-- I have to go home before it gets dark, though."

"My parents can give you a ride," Ai supplies quickly, ducking his head slightly after he speaks. Something about him screams _different_ to Sousuke, but he doesn't go out of his way to comment on it. Rin picks up chattering for the both of them the whole way to Ai's house, and when they get there, he's surprised by the structure.

 _Big_ doesn't actually begin to describe the western-style mansion that they lead him to. There's a circular driveway out front with a fountain in the center and stone lions on either side of the stairs leading to the doors. Neither of them act like any part of the enormous white house is anything to be marveled at, and Sousuke tries to do the same, tucking his hands firmly in his pockets so he doesn't accidentally touch something.

The inside is, if anything, more extravagant than the outside. The floors are so intensely polished that Sousuke can see his reflection as he walks, and the paintings on the walls are twice as tall as he is, despite being the tallest boy in their class. He frowns and looks down at Ai with a small shake of his head. "You _live_ here?"

Ai nods slowly, his hand now untangled from Rin's, pointing at the staircase that takes up the center of the room, a thick red carpet laying on it, smiling slowly. "My room is upstairs."

Sousuke keeps his hands firmly curled in his pockets and finds himself still caught staring at all of the things they pass. He's never actually imagined people living in houses like these, let alone actually being allowed inside of one. Ai's room is behind a pair of wooden doors the stretch at least four or five feet over Sousuke's head but push without any real effort needed. 

The floor inside is the same polished wood, with a bed standing at one wall and a grand piano against the other. There's a neat pile of toys as well, and Rin makes his way over to them without sparing the rest of the room a glance. Confused by the normalcy of it all Sousuke blinks his eyes hesitating in the doorway and staring at Rin. "Do you live here too?"

"No way," Rin laughs, shaking his head. He smiles, a plastic cat in one hand, rolling his eyes as if the notion is insane. "My dad is friends with Ai's dad-- we've known each other since we were babies."

"Oh," Sousuke frowns faintly and sits on the floor next to Rin. He feels strange about touching any of Ai's toys, even more so when instead of joining them, Ai makes his way over to the piano and lifts himself onto the bench, sitting in the center with his feet not quite reaching the floor. Sousuke lifts his head and blinks, confused, watching as Ai actually starts playing the massive instrument.

He starts slowly, with scales that Sousuke recognizes vaguely from his music class, and continues smoothly into a short song that Rin hums along with. Rin seems caught watching as well, and he grins slightly when Sousuke glances over. "He has to practice every day. He tried to teach me once, but I don't really get it,"

Rin laughs at himself, then blinks, eyes growing wide and smile expanding with it. "You can join the swimming club with me, though!"

"I don't have anything for that," Sousuke frowns, shaking his head with a little huff. He likes the _idea_ of starting a sport and maybe even being friends with Rin, but it doesn't seem like a realistic option for him. But Rin continues beaming, undeterred.

"They have stuff you can use there! You can even join the relay team," his tone makes the team sound absolutely magical, and Sousuke finds himself nodding without even really stopping to think about it.

"I'll ask Amakata-san if I can," he agrees, because it seems like it can't hurt just to ask her. It isn't, after all, like Amakata-san is mean to him, even if it seems like she's too busy for him most of the time. He supposes it's just because she has ten or so other orphans to take care of, and as one of the older ones, he's expected to be more independent. Rin pauses, confusion crossing his face.

"Amakata-san...? Is that what you call your mom?"

"No, she's my--" he's not sure what word to use, but he's interrupted anyway by footsteps behind him, the sound of heels clicking on the expensive floor. He looks up, surprised by the _maid_ standing in the doorway, looking down at them with a smile. "Aiichirou-sama!"

Ai lifts his head, fingers pausing on the ivory keys, looking at the maid and inclining his head politely, pink staining across his cheeks. "G- good afternoon."

"Would you like me to bring you anything?" She bows as she offers and Rin snickers softly under his breath. Ai only flushes further, shaking his head quickly. She nods, then pauses, seeming to really look at Sousuke for the first time. "Oh. Who's your new friend?"

"Yamazaki-kun," Ai answers quietly, and the maid narrows her eyes at Sousuke. He knows, instinctively, what she's seeing. His old shoes and the way his bag only has one strap, the fact that he doesn't belong in a big fancy house like this. She makes a small noise and turns quickly on her heel, nearly sprinting out of the room.

Ai blinks his eyes, shuffling himself off the piano bench and dropping to sit next to Sousuke. It surprises him suddenly how _nice_ Ai smells, and he's jolted once again by how different he seems from Rin. His voice is still soft when he speaks, bordering on shy. "I'm glad you decided to be friends with us, Yamazaki-kun."

The fact that just being called their friend makes him blush isn't really fair, and Sousuke turns his face away with a little snort. Still, he doesn't want to be rude so he nods his head and catches Ai beaming at him out of the corner of his eye. It makes his heart speed up, like he's just spent a long time running or something, and he wonders how such small things can make someone smile so big.

He falls into actually playing with the two of them, even if the way Rin makes every story dramatic and over the top makes him want to roll his eyes, Ai seems riveted by every one of them, watching Rin talk with sparkling eyes, and Sousuke doesn't want to interrupt that.

And it's all nice, it makes his stomach feel warm, until there are more shoes on the floor outside and Ai lifts his head, smile dimming at the sight of the man standing there with crossed arms. 

He has a severe face, looking like he must have spent most of his life frowning as intently as he is now, with light hair that's cut close enough to his head that Sousuke can't really tell if it's the same color as Ai's or not. Their eyes are different, though, the man doesn't have the kind of light and warmth in his gaze that Ai does, doesn't have the same kind of _life_ in spite of being close to the same color. "It's getting late, Aiichirou."

"Oh," Ai frowns faintly, shuffles his fingers together but nods his head obediently, glancing back at Sousuke and tilting his head slightly. "Is it okay if we take Yamazaki-kun home?"

Sousuke shakes his head before the man he can only assume is Ai's father actually gives an answer, standing quickly and grabbing the good strap of his bag in one hand, swinging it over his shoulder and letting his teeth dig the inside of his cheek. He's learned quickly enough the looks that people give him when they don't want him around, and it's written all over the man's face. "I can walk home."

There's a blink, just a second of silence that follows his words, where Ai's face drops another degree like he wants to argue, but instead, Rin shoves himself to his feet and nods his head furiously. There's a wideness to his gaze, the first charged sparks of fear, even when he tries to smile around it. "I'll go with you!"

Sousuke knows he's missing something when Ai nods without saying anything, his shoulders creeping towards his ears, making him even smaller, and Rin bobs an awkward bow at Nitori standing in the doorway, fingers laced around Sousuke's wrist, pulling him along at an awkward, clattering pace until they're both outside. He huffs, shaking his head as the front doors bang shut on their own. "He was so mad! I wonder why!"

He shrugs his shoulders, frowning at the doors a little and lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck, looking down at the neatly cut stones under his feet. "I didn't mean to get him into trouble."

"Nah," Rin shrugs, folding his hands behind his head as he walks. It's not quite dark yet, and Sousuke is hoping once they leave the long driveway he'll remember how to get back from here. He's not very good at finding his way around places. "Where do you live? I'll walk home with you!"

"I--" he blinks, turning away and frowning. He doesn't know how to answer that question still, and he hunches into himself. "Amakata-san lives by the library."

"You said she's not your mom, right?" Rin's voice is light as he asks, turning like he has no problem finding his way just from that information.

"She's my guardian," he responds because he likes the sound of the word at least. More than once he's fallen asleep pretending that it means he's some kind of prince and Amakata-san is only keeping watch over him until he can go reclaim his kingdom, or something else ridiculous. He knows none of it is anywhere near true, that no matter what he closes his eyes and pretends is true, he's still a kid nobody wants.

Rin doesn't seem startled or confused by the word, instead, he circles back to talking about his swimming club and how Sousuke _has_ to join because it'll be _awesome_ for the two of them to swim together.

They reach the orphanage before the sun actually goes down, and in the light, the building looks like it could really be anything. There's a small sign on the door that reports it as being a 'youth shelter', and Rin frowns slightly at the words, tilting his head to the side. "You live here?"

Sousuke nods, shuffling one foot awkwardly against the pavement. Part of him wants to argue with Rin somehow, but more than that he doesn't want to lose both these new friendships already. But Rin picks up with another smile, nodding his head. "Cool! You're really close to Ai then!"

"Then where do you live?" He frowns slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. Rin smiles, pointing back the way they came from.

"I live a few blocks further out, but it's not really that far," he laughs, rubbing the back of his head. "I always walk Ai home, you can come with us now!"

He pauses, wrinkling his nose for a moment and chuckling. "Sometimes we have to take my little sister too, though."

"Okay," he finds himself smiling a little even. Rin nods, waving excitedly as he takes off in the direction of his house, laughing still.

"Later Sousuke-kun!"

 

It doesn't take many visits to the Nitori mansion after that for all of them to figure out that Sousuke isn't exactly welcome there. Instead, they spend most of their time either playing in the fort they find out behind the huge house or at Rin's.

They become tied for Sousuke's favorite places to be. Any small possession that becomes his ends up stored in the fort, especially once he begins drawing at school. He carries them home and stores them in one small corner of the old tree house, held down by a rock. He's surprised by how Ai demands to see all of his drawings, the way he fawns over each one, even when Sousuke says they aren't very good.

The fort, over time, becomes a place that belongs to him and Ai together. They set it up full of fluffy sleeping bags and assorted bits of either of them. It takes time to clean it up, to find clever ways to mark the edges of their 'territory' in the woods-- the landmarks help Sousuke and his terrible sense of direction in the woods. Over the creek, past the rotted stump at the edge of the clearing, under the bent boughs of the old oak tree until they come to the fort itself.

After school one day he walks there with Ai. Rin gets stuck once again taking Gou home, which always happens more often when he doesn't have swimming practice as an excuse for getting home later than she'd be leaving, though Sousuke has always suspected that Rin doesn't hate it as much as he claims to. He's felt responsible for her since their dad died, and even if he still complains about it from time to time, he'll still give in and hold her hand the whole way home.

Ai huffs softly next to him, zipping his coat further against the cool fall air. It's one of those expensive looking wool jackets that he seems to have a new one of every year, and he cuddles his face against the collar slightly, hunching against the wind with his nose wrinkled just slightly. Sousuke gives him a glance and a fond roll of his eyes.

His cheeks are pink from the wind, along with the very tip of his nose, and something about the whole thing makes his stomach feel strange and he looks ahead quickly. He doesn't have the same kind of fancy coat that Ai does, and so he's just in his uniform at the moment. It's not too bad though, he's not nearly a s prone to the cold as Ai is. Ai huffs another breath, probably displeased by Sousuke rolling his eyes. "Not all of us are disturbingly warm blooded."

He says it primly, tilting his chin up in the air and Sousuke can't help but chuckle, shaking his head. "It's really not that cold."

"Clearly it is," Ai pouts just slightly, but the corners of his lips tip into a smile and it ruins the petulance of the expression. Sousuke's stomach twists oddly again as he jumps across the small creek, ignoring the half-rotten footbridge that crosses it. He holds a hand out when Ai hesitates.

Ai takes it with a little laugh, using it to try and steady himself when he jumps across. He lands on one foot and hops a step forward, nearly crasing into Sousuke's chest. He rights himself quickly, a quick flush on his cheeks. There's a little hum if disappointment somewhere in the back of his mind, and he does his best to push it away.

He's been having more and more of these strange little moments with Ai-- where even the most mundane and casual touches make him feel like his skin has been electrified and it seems like he's always on the razor's edge of waiting for _something_ to happen, but he's never really sure _what_. 

It leaves him feeling unsettled, and he does his best to ignore it. He lets go of Ai's arm, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the bridge with a little frown. "Maybe we should get something to replace that."

"A board would probably work okay if we put rocks on the ends," Ai agrees, walking through the small clearing on light feet. There's an extra spring to his step, and Sousuke raises an eyebrow curiously. With Ai these sorts of things usually mean he has something to share.

"Probably," he nods, digging the toe of his shoe against the stump for a moment as they pass it. It's not very late. Even with no swim practice, he tends to wait around after school until Ai finishes with his daily piano lesson so they can both walk home together. It's become something of a tradition since it first started when they were in elementary school.

Now, turning 15 in a few weeks, Sousuke still finds the routine comfortable. Ai hums a little snippet under his breath, probably one of the pieces he's learning to play, and ducks under the reaching branches of the oak tree, turning once he's under them and cocking his head slightly to the side. "You're not going to fit in here much longer."

He says it with a giggle, smile stretching wide on his face, and Sousuke snorts. It's true that he's grown much taller than Ai in the last year, to the point where he could probably tuck the younger boy under his chin at this point. He does have to duck a little further and his shoulders still brush against the bark of the tree, but it's not _that_ bad. Ai giggles once more and Sousuke jabs at his shoulder gently with an elbow. "What's on your mind, anyway?"

Ai doesn't even look surprised by the question. Sousuke can just _tell_ , it's always been that way with the two of them. His smile grows wider, a sparkle in his eyes, making Sousuke jam his hands into his pockets and curl them into tight fists because they're itching to reach out and touch him. "I got invited to audition for the Gyosei music school."

"W- what?" Sousuke's voice stumbles over the word, and he stops short in his surprise. He's a year older and barely started looking at schools for next year himself, and somehow Ai already has an _audition_ for a school. Ai blinks, surprised by the reaction probably, and ducks his head towards his shoulders slightly.

"W- well, my parents set it up. They want me to try and reserve a place early," he sounds less and less excited about it as he continues speaking, nudging his toe at the dead leaves littering the ground. "But-- it's sorta far away."

Sousuke nods, curling his hands into tighter fists and ducking his chin towards his chest like he's preparing for a blow. They don't talk about these things much; the gulf of difference between them that they've both been content to ignore since childhood. Sousuke's only option is to go to a local high school and do well enough with his grades or his swimming to get scouted for a college, since he's long since given up the hope that some family will come along and decide they want to adopt him.

But Ai has nothing but options in front of him. He shakes his head slowly, pushing his bangs out of his eyes and giving a hesitant little smile. "I don't really want to go all the way to Tokyo for school."

Sousuke knows what he _should_ say; that it's a great opportunity and that Ai shouldn't give it up because he's shy and finds it hard to make friends with new people. But, something in him burns bright and selfish and he shrugs his shoulders, letting his eyes slide off to the side. "I don't really want you to go that far either."

It tastes like a strange admission in his mouth, and he can _feel_ the incandescent force of Ai grinning at him. He refuses to acknowledge it, chuckling softly and continuing to walk, making Ai hop a few quick steps to catch up and then charge ahead of him, backpack bouncing on his back. 

Sousuke rolls his eyes, shifting the strap of his on his shoulder. Usually, he'd scold Ai not to run where he might trip on a root or something, but he reels in the urge this time, sliding his hands out of his pockets and watching Ai start to scale the old rope ladder that hangs down from the fort.

He doesn't hear the sound of the rope creaking dangerously until Ai is already at the top, almost ten feet in the air, and when it snaps he feels too slow to actually do anything about it. It seems for a short moment like he hangs suspended in the air, hands reaching for the next rung of the ladder as it separates from the fort itself, sending him tumbling backward through the air. 

The world catches up with itself quickly though, and before Sousuke has the time to blink again, Ai is on the ground with both hands wrapped around his ankle, eyes wide and trembling with tears, teeth digging into his lip so hard that blood bubbles out around them.

Sousuke skids across the leaves, landing on one knee next to him, listening to his heart pound in his ears, reaching out and touching the tips of his figners against the back of Ai's hand gently, clearing his throat and hoping as hard as he can that his voice doesn't shake when he tries to speak. "Let me se, alright?"

He's trying to remember how Rin acts whenever Gou gets hurt-- the way he projects out calm so she doesn't freak out any further. Ai swallows hard, gritting his teeth harder and releasing his ankle slowly. It's already turning a dark purple and swelling, and Ai huffs a shaking breath out of his mouth before Sousuke even tries to touch it. He snatches his hand back quickly, ignoring the trembling of his fingers. "C- can you move it at all?"

Ai furrows his brow, more tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes without him even seeming to be aware of them, shifting his leg but shaking his head after a moment, drawing in sniffling breaths like he can't quite find his voice. When he does, it comes out thick and unsteady. "I t-think it's broken."

" _Shit_ ," Sousuke hesitates again, then shuffles forward on both knees, sliding one arm under the bed of Ai's legs, resting the other at the small of his back and lifting Ai into the air with a small grunt, cradled in his arms. It really isn't very hard to lift him-- Sousuke's been getting stronger and stronger, and Ai is fairly light. He presses his face into Sousuke's shoulder, eyes squeezed shut, hiding a whine against it. Both arms come to wrap around Sousuke's neck, squeezing the back of it tightly.

"I'm gonna carry you home," he says, like it isn't obvious already. He ducks carefully back out of the little knot of trees, squeezing Ai tighter against him and walking carefully across the old footbridge. Ai nods his head, still hidden against Sousuke's shoulder, hiccuping little sounds against it whenever he's jostled in Sousuke's arms.

It's a blessing, really, that the mansion itself isn't very far away from the fort. It doesn't take Sousuke long to get them there at the quickest jog he dares to use, trying to think of anything comforting to say in the meantime. He can't even keep track of the words coming out of his mouth, bumping his forehead gently against Ai's temple.

He has to shuffle Ai a little awkwardly to bang his fist against the door, panting unevenly. Ai lifts his head when they stop, using one hand carefully unwrapped from Sousuke's neck to scrub tears away from his eyes. It's not a surprise when one of the Nitori's nicely dressed maids answers, looking first at Sousuke and then Ai in his arms with a confused blink. "A- Aiichirou-sama?"

"He fell and I think he broke his ankle," Sousuke's words come out in a rush and the maid has to pause before seeming to understand them, looking at Ai's leg and nodding them inside. 

"Nitori-sama is still at work. I'll call an ambulance, please wait in the living room," she doesn't even sound shocked, bobbing a quick bow and sweeping out of the room. Sousuke shakes his head with a little sigh, dropping to sit on the couch with Ai in his lap, rubbing at his back softly.

"You alright?" It's a stupid question, and his flushes a little after asking it, but Ai gives him a watery laugh in return and shrugs his shoulders, looking down at his leg with a little hiss.

"Well, I won't be using the foot pedal for awhile," he chuckles, the tips of his ears flushing pink as he ducks his head slightly again. "At least it gets me out of the audition."

Sousuke doesn't bother to ask why he wouldn't just tell his family no. Ai's feelings of duty and obligation are totally foreign to him. The maid returns a moment later to inform them both that the ambulance is on its way and to glare at Sousuke like he's tainting the furniture by daring to sit on it.

He ignores it the best he can-- he's never exactly been welcome here to begin with, and this isn't really all that different.

They don't let him ride in the ambulance with Ai, and so he's lifted into it alone with tears still dotting his cheeks. Sousuke stands on the fancy stone steps with his fists clenched tightly, wishing he had some way to get himself to the stupid hospital so Ai wouldn't be alone. He doesn't even own a bike, and so instead he's forced to trudge his way to Rin's to see if maybe Rin's mother will give him a ride.

 

The break at least, isn't severe. Ai's forced to hobble around school on crutches for a few weeks, but he's no worse for the wear otherwise. It even gives him an excuse to ask Sousuke or Rin to carry his bag home for him, and he grins every time he asks and Sousuke _always_ rolls his eyes to cover up the little spark of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

He rakes leaves around town until he saves up enough money to build a ladder out of better, stronger rope, and makes a promise to himself that he won't let Ai get hurt again.

 

It's a short time after his 16th birthday that Sousuke wakes up with his mark imprinted on his hip. It's nothing conspicuous—a small arrangement of what look like stars, something like a trapezoid with a triangle attached to one corner. The marks themselves aren't large or dark, and there are faint lines connecting them together into what Sousuke assumes is some kind of constellation.

It's supposed to be something amazing—getting a mark was the most important indicator of adulthood as far as anyone was concerned, but something about it made him feel unsettled. He wasn't searching for a soulmate, he didn't have time to really start worrying about one already, and rather than do what a lot of his classmates seem to and immediately start showing it off at school, Sousuke keeps the information to himself and hopes no one notices it while he changes for practice.

And it works, for over a year. He doesn't go looking at anyone else for a shape that matches his own, and after a little curious poking around on the internet he figures out that it matches the constellation Lyra, and he simply files it away in the back of his mind.

It doesn't become a problem of any kind until the week before his final year of high school begins, when Ai convinces his parents to let him hold a small pool party in their back yard.

Small, with the Nitori family, is really a matter of perspective, and for them it involves inviting the entire swim club and probably half of Ai's class on top of that, along with the gathering of private school students from nearby that his parents have picked out as better, more suitable friends.

Ai doesn't seem to be bothered by it, but Sousuke takes a moment to quietly fume with Rin, cocking an eyebrow at Nagisa giving up on his mission to torment the confused looking boys to instead chase after Ai with a wide smile on his face. His voice carries easily over the sounds of the party around them, reaching to tickle at Ai's sides. He stops short though, staring at his lower back before wailing out a sound that Sousuke has to guess is pleased or excited. “Ai-chan!”

“W- what is it, Nagisa-kun?” Ai starts to turn around with wide eyes, blinking when Nagisa grabs his shoulders to stop him, giggling now.

“I think you have a mark, Ai-chan!” His voice gets louder, tracing the small array of dots on Ai's back. Sousuke blinks, something inside his stomach clenching as he leans forward. He doesn't feel too bad about it—the noise Nagisa kicks up has pulled in everyone's attention and Ai's face is slowly turning red.

“I- I do?” He tries to turn his head far enough to look over his shoulder, and Sousuke takes half a step forward before stopping short. The mark on Ai's back is clear enough to be unmistakable to him. A small collection of stars, just darker than the pale tones of his skin, in the same shape—the constellation Lyra.

Sousuke can _feel_ his face going suspiciously red as he stares, trying to swallow the shock down to the back of his throat. He doesn't want anyone else realizing the same thing that he is now. Rin glances at him oddly, and he quickly moves to snap his mouth shut. Rin continues staring for a moment and Sousuke forces himself to smile, to relax his shoulders, to act like this doesn't make it feel like the ground was just ripped out from under him.

In some ways, maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise. Whenever Amakata tells younger orphans about soulmates, she talks about how some people are drawn together before they even have a mark to make things clearer for them, but he doesn't have really anyone to look up to who's actually with their soulmate for an example.

He knows that Rin's parents were, before his dad died, and he also knows that Ai's parents aren't, and think the whole thing is foolish. Ai's always seemed to shy away from the topic when it comes up, with a little sad sparkle of hope in his eyes. He's not quite the romantic that Rin is, and Sousuke chalks it up the fact that Ai doesn't feel in control of his own life already. 

Being fated to be with someone that his parents already hate probably isn't going to make him feel any more in control of things.

Nagisa is giggling, poking at each individual mark and chattering excitedly about how _exciting_ this all is, and Sousuke lets out a slow breath before walking over, dropping his hand on Ai's shoulder with a little grin. “Well congrats.”

Ai looks up, his face stained red from the focus trained on him, but he relaxes as he looks at Sousuke, nodding his head with a little laugh. “T- thanks.”

He nods, dropping his hand and trying to ignore the way his fingers itch to reach out and _touch_ the mark on Ai's back. It's like a compulsion now that he's seen it, a dull throbbing under his skin and in the tips of his fingers.

He curls his hand into a small fist instead, hoping that this isn't going to be something he can't seem to shake around Ai. He's trying to quell the voice in his head telling him that he needs to escape, that he's somehow at risk of giving himself away, but Ai looks up at him and gives him one of those smiles that positively _sparkles_ and he remains stuck where he is. “I guess it's kind of exciting, right?”

Sousuke gives him a tight nod, frowning slightly. He can't help it, and it only gets deeper when Ai's mother steps out into the pool area with a smile and an expensive looking dress on, cutting through the crowd of teenagers without effort, smiling brightly down at him. There's a fakeness to it, plastic around the edges, and Sousuke takes a slight step back before she reaches the two of them.

She gives him one of those short, sharp glances, like she's still trying to understand why Ai bothers to associate with him. He doesn't cringe back from them anymore, simply rolls his shoulders in a little shrug. Neither of Ai's parents have ever liked him, and at this point it's not exactly news.

“You have a mark now, Aiichirou?” Her smile fades slightly as she asks, and even more when Ai turns his back to let her see it sitting in the dip of his spine. She hums, motioning for him to turn around again, ghosting out a delicate sigh. “We'll have to discuss this with your Father, I suppose.”

“D- discuss what?” Ai asks softly, already ducking his head slightly. She lifts one neat eyebrow, a small frown on her face now.

“We didn't plan on this happening so early—we'll have to evaluate our plan for you again,” she says it as if it should be obvious to Ai, and he shrinks further at the slight sharpness of her tone, like he wants to disappear entirely. She glances at Sousuke again, narrowing her eyes at the frown on his face. “Perhaps we'll discuss another audition with Gyosei.”

“Ah--” Ai starts, his voice seeming to get caught in his throat. He'd said no to the last two auditions, insisting that he wanted to attend school in town and continue with private lessons, but as he continued to improve his parents had been less and less accepting of that answer.

“You'll have to perform well in the Sendai competition though, before we start looking at any of that,” her tone is clipped, speaking over any chance Ai might have had at arguing with her. His eyes grow slightly wide, but he ducks his head once again, looking at the damp pavement under his feet and nodding his head slowly.

“W- whatever you think is best,” his fingers curl into loose fists as he agrees, and she gives him a smile that lacks any sweetness, nodding her head.

“Excellent. We'll just have to hope there aren't any complications in the meantime,” her eyes flick to Sousuke again before humming slightly to herself and turning on her heel to stride away.

Ai lets out a long breath, a little shake at the end of it, and to himself Sousuke resolves not to let Ai know who his match actually is.

 

Morning comes with a certain slant of light across Sousuke's face making it impossible to sleep any longer. He still tries, rolls onto his side so the ray of sun is falling across his back instead, but the pieces of his brain are already starting to click into place, robbing him of any further sleep. He presses a sigh into his pillow, glaring at the blank expanse of wall in front of him. For a moment, his whole body feels far too heavy to move at all and he considers trying to sleep once again.

But then he hears Rin shuffling around the room, mumbling to himself about the finer details of some workout plan and he rolls over with a heavy sigh, throwing one of his pillows at the floor. "Shut up."

"Wow, nice aim," Rin laughs, looking up at him with a sharp grin cutting sideways on his face. "Why don't you get up?"

"I am," Sousuke grunts, making no effort at all to move. Rin laughs again, shaking his head and looking back to the page in front of him. "The hell were you out so late for, anyway?"

"Student council shit with Ai," he answers without a thought then cringes slightly like he didn't mean to admit it so bluntly. When he looks up with sheepish eyes and pink staining across his cheeks, Sousuke's face is carefully blank. It's not as if he has any expectation that the two of them will suddenly stop being friends, Ai predates him in Rin's life anyways. Still, Rin sighs softly, draping his arm over the back of the chair. "For the swim team."

Sousuke's answer is somewhere between a grunt and a hum, because they're straying dangerously close to Rin trying to play fairy godmother and 'fixing' Ai and Sousuke. Rin frowns when he doesn't answer, scooping the pillow off the floor and throwing it at Sousuke once again.

"Oi! You can't avoid this forever," he snaps, and Sousuke watches the pillow sail harmlessly over him and bounce off the wall, landing at the foot of the bed with a soft sound. Sousuke sighs, resists the urge to hide his head under a blanket, keeps his tone flat and uninterested.

"I'm not avoiding anything," it's at least partially true. He's started going out of his way to be careful around Ai, even when just speaking to him feels dangerous. He frowns, sitting up finally and swinging his legs over the side of the bunk, shaking his head. There's nothing to be gained by moping over it, and even less by talking to Rin. "We're fine."

"Bullshit," Rin's voice is louder than he expects, turned in the seat to glare directly at him now, eyebrows settled low. "You can run away all you want, but don't fucking lie about it."

"We are fine," his tone rises to being defensive, dropping to the floor with a loud _thud_. Rin's face remains flat and Sousuke sighs, shaking his head. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you two to fucking talk," he snaps, gripping his hand into a fist. "Either be friends or make out or hate each other, but work _something_ out."

"I don't _hate_ Nitori," Sousuke grumbles, turning halfway away and sighing softly. He glances back to catch the skepticism on Rin's face and shakes his head. He knows the use of Ai's surname probably doesn't escape notice, and he doesn't want to remember the sad, wide-eyed look he'd gotten from Ai for it either. "I don't."

"Then what is your fucking problem?" Rin crosses his arms, shaking his head when Sousuke opens his mouth to answer. "And don't say something stupid."

"We're both better off this way," he shrugs, and apparently it falls under Rin's definition of something stupid because the glare on his face only darkens. Sousuke shakes his head once more, stretching his arms over his head. 

"l think you're an idiot," Rin relents after a moment of trying to think of a good argument against Sousuke. He turns back to the papers in front of him, letting his shoulders slump. “Neither of you is better off miserable.”

Sousuke doesn't respond to that right away, frowning absently and taking the moment to scan his eyes over the room to look for his uniform instead. The both of them have to get ready for school soon, anyway, and it might be his only way _out_ of this conversation. He has very carefully kept himself from thinking about making Ai miserable. Just like carefully avoiding him during school—he knows he'll get caught by those sad eyes, the way Ai tries to put on a brave face through things, and all his carefully built resolve will crumble. 

Rin smirks after a moment, like he _knows_ Sousuke doesn't have an answer, and chuckles softly without looking up. “Laundry room.”

“Thanks,” he grunts, trying to make it sound much more like _fuck off_. Rin just laughs at him again, and Sousuke resists the urge to slam the door behind him. The Matsuoka home has always felt like his own, at least a little bit, with the table at the bottom of the stairs holding pictures of Rin and Gou growing up with his mixed among them. A couple of his school portraits even sit in neat frames, alongside a picture taken after a relay race in middle school with Seijuurou hanging his arms off Rin and Sousuke's shoulders and Ai in the very front, holding the trophy in both hands and lifting it up with a wide smile on his face.

There's a smaller table to the side of the living room with a shrine arranged carefully on it. There's a picture of Rin's dad framed in the center and Sousuke's eyes slide easily over it. It's been a fixture in that exact spot for years, and it settles into the back of the room like an old wound never quite properly healed. 

He picks his way quietly through the room, smiling slightly at his uniform freshly washed and hanging just inside the small alcove at the end of the hall always referred to as the 'laundry room'. It's, in fact, just a washer and dryer with a wire shelf suspended over them, rather than something more fitting of being called a room. As an olive branch, he grabs Rin's uniform as well, gathering both hangers into one hand and turning to walk back up the stairs.

“Sousuke-kun,” a voice floating out of the kitchen makes him stop and turn toward the open doorway, easing a small smile onto his face. Sora, Rin and Gou's mother, smiles brightly back at him. She doesn't look much like either child, with brown hair that falls in soft waves down her back and eyes that are closer to being peach than red, but she and Rin have the same razor sharp smile, shared unmistakably between them. 

“Ah, thought that was you,” she chuckles, her back mostly turned to him, leaning over the stove with rice already sizzling in a pan. She continues, only glancing back at him. “Amakata-sensei won't be upset you stayed over on a school night, will she?”

Sousuke shrugs, then realizes she won't be able to see it and clears his throat softly before answering. “No, she won't mind.”

He doesn't mention that she probably won't have noticed it in the first place. It isn't that Amakata is a _cruel_ person—she's been the closest thing he's had to a parent since he was six, but as he's gotten older, more and more of her attention has been turned toward the younger kids living with them, and so nights where he stays with Rin or simply finds an excuse to keep himself out late go mostly unnoticed. Sora glances over her shoulder like something about that answer doesn't sit right with her, but instead just clicks her tongue. “I can't believe that uniform still fits you.”

It, for the most part, doesn't really fit well. The pants don't actually have a hem at the bottom anymore, having been let down so many times as he's gotten taller, and he's given up entirely on ever getting the blazer on his shoulders again. The last time he'd tried, the fabric had started groaning before it was even pulled past his arms. He makes a small, agreeing kind of noise, and chuckles when she waves him off with the spoon in her hand, making his way back up the stairs to get ready.

 

At first, when he's not really looking out for it, Ai almost misses the fact that Sousuke is avoiding him. It's subtle, the way he manages to escape a room or a conversation as soon as Ai shows up, how he ducks his head in the hallway, always looks _just_ busy enough that Ai would feel bad trying to grab his attention.

Still, it takes all in all less than a week for Ai to actually realize what's going on. It's deciding what to do about it after that drags on. He doesn't really know _why_ Sousuke is trying so hard to keep distance between them, and it's that fact that bothers him more really. He thinks for awhile about cutting his piano lesson at the end of the day, just once, to go out and wait for Sousuke to show up by his bike to go home. But, worried that it won't go well, he doesn't go through with it.

He goes to find Rin, instead. That, in itself, isn't hard for him to do at all. He's rarely more than a text message away, even with the added responsibility of being the captain of the swimming team this year. But when he does arrange a time for the two of them to talk between their classes, it's a surprise when Sousuke shows up. 

The first thing Ai notices isn't the vaguely annoyed look on his face that melts away into surprise, but the tired circles sitting under his eyes. He'd agreed to meet Rin outside, on the roof even, and in the warmth of early fall, Sousuke's left the leather jacket that's almost a fixture in Ai's memory, behind for the day. That leaves just his usual uniform, worn in a casual sort of disarray with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, shirt not quite tucked in all the way, tie resting against his collarbone rather than his throat. He frowns slightly, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck, shaking his head. “Rin thinks you and I are fighting.”

“Oh,” Ai answers, voice softer than he intends. He's not sure how to respond to that, exactly. He knows, of course, that he didn't have a fight with Sousuke of any kind, but he can also tell that there's _something_ going on. It's finding where the two come together that makes him feel lost. He frowns, tilting his chin up slightly to meet Sousuke's gaze, trying to make it clear that he's looking for some kind of answer to that. Sousuke almost _flinches_ , his gaze darting quickly away. “Are we fighting?”

Sousuke's face tightens further and he shakes his head. Ai sighs softly, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing away. He's never really argued much with Sousuke, and he's at a loss for how to fix whatever mysterious problem this is. He tries something else, instead. “M- my first audition is coming up soon.”

He glances up, catching the twitch of Sousuke's mouth, the flicker of a change in his expression, and continues. “For the um, Sendai competition. I was hoping you and Rin would come watch me.”

Rin's name is tacked on the end as an afterthought, not because Ai _doesn't_ want him there, he'd just had a different intention in mind when asking Sousuke. In his mind, he'd planned out a successful audition and a nice, quiet dinner with Sousuke after. He wasn't quite ready to call the idea a _date_ , but it's something close, a step in that direction.

But Sousuke frowns, shrugging his shoulders slightly and lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. “I'm not sure. I doubt your parents will appreciate me being there.”

Ai opens his mouth to argue, then clips it shut. They've been over this topic again and again in the past—Ai's parents don't like Sousuke, don't think he's the right kind of person to be associated with Ai, let alone one of his best friends, and Ai has never given in to their attempts to close Sousuke out of his life. They both know it, and Ai digs his nails into his palms slightly. “ _I'll_ appreciate it if you're there.”

Sousuke blinks, then sighs. The breath seems to rob some of the tension from his body, and he nods his head slowly. “I'll think about it, okay Nitori?”

Ai tries not to cringe at the name. Before this year, it had always just been Ai between them. He's not sure how to ask about the change, and he's already unsettled by the shifts in their relationship, so he simply nods his head and tilts his eyes downward, moving his tongue despite the thickness in the back of his throat. “Okay, Yamazaki-senpai.”


	2. a due

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _a due: intended as a duet; for two voices or instruments; together; two instruments are to play in unison after a solo passage for one of the instruments_

Despite simply saying he would 'think about it', Sousuke shows up to Ai's audition anyway. He's got Rin with him, and as soon as they walk into the nice auditorium, he feels out of place. His school uniform represents the nicest clothing that he owns, and it's paired with an old pair of sneakers and his bag slouching off of one shoulder. The both of them probably still reek of chlorine, and the ends of Rin's hair are still damp from showering off after practice, dripping onto the crisp collar of his shirt.

Rin looks slightly more like he fits in—his button-down is neatly ironed and he has a bright red tie around his neck. They both slide into seats in the middle of a row, settling into them with Rin rolling his eyes at Sousuke's frown, jabbing an elbow at his arm.

“Act like you wanna be here, at least,” he hisses, keeping his voice low. There aren't many other students around, mostly it's older folks in nice suits with programs and notebooks spread in their laps. Sousuke cranes his neck slightly, finding that he's, at least, a little curious about what all of them are taking notes on. There's a panel of judges at the front, so he assumes most of them are scouts of some kind, and the thought makes his stomach tighten a little. He does not, he decides, want to be here.

“I shouldn't have come,” he grumbles, trying to sink himself lower in his seat. It doesn't really work—he's too tall, and his shoulders are too broad, and unlike Ai, Sousuke has never been good at making himself seem small. He blinks when Rin's arm lifts into the air, expecting a cuff on the back of the head.

Rather than that, it's Rin waving down Makoto as he walks in, shuffling his feet nervously. Sousuke looks over at him with a blink, shifting to let the other teen squeeze down the aisle. He's sympathetic to that, at least, even if he can't quite wipe the glare off his face. It's not exactly fair, and it's certainly not that he hates Makoto, but he huffs a little through his teeth as Makoto sits down on Rin's other side.

“Ah—I was worried I'd be too late to get a good seat,” he's panting slightly, rubbing the back of his neck with a warm smile. Sousuke resists the urge to roll his eyes, because taking out his petty grudge on Makoto is the kind of thing that Rin would bitch at him for later, and instead he snatches the program out of Rin's hand.

“I didn't know Nanase was doing this thing too,” even though common sense dictates that he would be. He'd looked up the competition out of curiosity and was surprised by how major of an event it was. Sure enough, when he looks through the program Haruka Nanase is printed a few slots above Ai's name, and Sousuke frowns at it. Rin grabs the pamphlet back from his hands with a roll of his eyes.

“Don't be a dick,” he sniffs, and there are definitely several of the other audience members glaring at them, even though the performances haven't even started yet. Makoto gives Sousuke a smile anyway, apparently not dissuaded by his bad attitude.

“Yeah—Haru-chan isn't really interested in the whole competition aspect, but it's a great chance for him!” He pauses and blinks twice like he has to realize that Rin and Sousuke probably aren't sitting here for the chance to watch Nanase play, and red creeps into his face. “I- I'm sure Nitori-kun will do great too!”

“Of course, he will,” Sousuke answers, a shade more coolly than he intends to. Still, he's not embarrassed to be proud of the fact that Ai is _good_ at the piano, and he's not about to start acting like Nanase is some kind of incredible prodigy like everyone else does. He gets a lot of attention, far more than Sousuke thinks he deserves, for being a _natural talent_ , for playing back complex pieces by ear and having perfect pitch.

Sousuke, after a decade of watching Ai practice and learn, doesn't find that very impressive. Makoto chuckles softly, and Rin shoots him a little glare before he can say anything else. It suits Sousuke just fine, though, because the lights dim and the heavy red curtains blocking the stage pull back to reveal a single performer sitting behind a piano, trying to conceal just how nervous she is when she looks out at the audience.

Nanase goes on before Ai, stepping out onto the stage with a stiff bow and an impassive frown on his face. He's wearing a suit, like most of them, but his hair falls into his face rather than being held back, and he isn't carrying any sheet music with him. A voice overhead announces the piece that he's playing, but it's a mess of foreign words that leave Sousuke's head almost immediately.

He's good. Sousuke knows music well enough because of his friendship with Ai to be able to tell that, and several of the scouts stand to applaud him (along with Makoto), as he makes his way off the stage, his expression never shifting.

Makoto drops back into his seat with a dreamy kind of sigh, making it squeak under him. “He looked really happy.”

“You can tell that?” Rin snorts out a laugh as he asks and Makoto nods his head emphatically, squeezing his hands together around the knees of his slacks.

“He always gets this _look_ on his face while he's playing the piano!” There's an earnestness to his face, and Sousuke actually knows exactly what he means. Ai doesn't smile when he plays, usually too focused, but there's an expression in his eyes—some mix of serenity and hard-edged determination, utter focus and light, like his soul is on fire—it's made Sousuke's stomach coil since they were kids. He can't imagine the same look in Nanase's eyes, but Makoto sinks back against his seat, voice going quiet. “It's really beautiful.”

Rin doesn't comment on how strange it is for Makoto to be calling another guy _beautiful_ , and Sousuke's face burns. It's a weird reminder of the fact that Ai is supposed to be his _soulmate_ , something he's trying his hardest to pretend isn't true. His mark is on his hip, and despite the fact that he changes in a locker room full of people twice a day for practice, he's fairly sure Rin is the only person who's actually seen it.

It's getting harder though to avoid the topic when it comes up. Discussing marks is the usual flavor of gossip around school, with everyone so excited about trying to find a match for it as soon as they get theirs. Sousuke's been hiding from it since it showed up, and even more now that he _knows_ where the mark that matches his is. 

What's worse is that hiding from the truth hasn't allowed him to stop himself from picturing what it would be like if Ai did know they were soulmates. He tries not to think about it, and most of the time he fails. He wants to touch the little array of dots on Ai's back, wonders, if they're just slightly raised like his own, are, or smooth like the rest of his skin. He wants some way of knowing if Ai feels the little pull whenever they're near, like the two of them are magnets trying to draw closer together.

He's probably known that Ai is his soulmate for a long, long time.

He shakes himself away from thoughts that don't do him any good, looking up at the stage instead as Ai walks out. He recognizes the suit, with the powder blue shirt under the dark jacket making his eyes stand out, and a thin pair of silver clips holding his hair back from his face. He scans the crowd for just a second, and Sousuke's heart does one of the little leaps that it shouldn't do when Ai catches sight of them and smiles just before bowing and turning to the bench instead.

There's music clutched in his hand and he sets it neatly in front of him, waiting for the overhead voice to politely announce him playing a sonata called “The Hunt”. It's a bright, fast tune that seems to flow without trouble as Ai plays it. Even from a distance, Sousuke can see the look that lights up his face, and he feels electrified watching. He doesn't realize how long the performance is, even though the others _dragged_ by, and it seems like Ai stops playing all too quickly.

His fingers draw the final notes out long, letting them fade out softly rather than cutting them quickly off, gathering his music and standing once again. Sousuke surges to his feet, glad when Rin does the same next to him, and there's applause echoing around the hall, though the two of the, are probably far louder than is polite. Ai catches sight of them both again, and a little grin lights up his face.

Sousuke slides himself out of the aisle as he leaves the stage, glancing back at Rin with a little grin on his face. It's honestly difficult to pretend he _isn't_ excited when Ai does well, and he's glad that Rin doesn't say anything that makes him feel like he has to.

They find their way into the hall that leads to the backstage area and Rin stops, looking around before tucking his hands in his pockets and turning around. “I'm going to the bathroom.”

“What?” Sousuke blinks, eyebrows leaping together. Rin looks over his shoulder with a snort and a lopsided grin.

“To pee. I didn't want you to get lost,” he smirks wider and leaves quick enough that it's obvious he's trying to get away before Ai comes out to meet him, and Sousuke sighs a little. Rin isn't a master of being subtle, really.

Still, the door swings open a moment later, and Ai walks out. He's distracted, trying to remove the clips from his hair, his nose crinkled slightly as he fumbles at them. Sousuke rolls his eyes, and before he thinks better of it, he steps forward, gently batting Ai's hands away and opening both of them, letting the little silver bars lay in his palm, using his other hand to brush Ai's bangs back into place.

“Oh,” Ai giggles, looking up at him with a smile before Sousuke's even pulled his hand away, making his fingers skim against Ai's forehead. Ai bites his lip gently like he's trying to keep his smile from spreading. “Thank you.”

His cheeks are a little pink, probably from being in front of the crowd, and Sousuke snaps his hand back like he's being burned by the contact, nodding and flicking his eyes away, desperate for something else to look at. “Sure.”

He can feel the confused bore of Ai's gaze up at him, but he ignores it in favor of rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck, curling his fingers there so they don't try and reach out towards Ai again. That little magnetic feeling is back in the center of his chest, telling him that they should be _closer_ than they are now. “You—you played really nice.”

“I hope the judges agree,” Ai sighs softly, teeth digging white lines into his lower lip. He pauses at his own words, then shakes his head and pats at his cheeks. “I did well! They'll move me to the next round!”

He sounds like he's trying to convince himself, and Sousuke bites back a small laugh, nodding his head in agreement. “Of course they will.”

It's easy for him to agree—he's never heard anyone play with the kind of passion and electricity that Ai has, but he doesn't know anything about competitive music, and his own admiration is all he has to offer.

And that he plans to keep firmly to himself.

“Where'd Rin-senpai go?” Ai asks after a moment, leaning on his toes like Rin is somehow hiding with the other people lingering in the hallway. Sousuke shrugs, turning back the way they came from.

“Bathroom,” he snorts, and Ai blinks at his back as he starts walking. He stops when there's a tiny pull on the back of his jacket, looking back at Ai with an eyebrow cocked. He's grinning, eyes sparkling with a laugh.

“That's the wrong way,” he giggles softly, switching to giving Sousuke's sleeve a tug and leading him along. He's reminded of being kids, with Ai doing the same thing to him constantly when they got lost. Reluctantly, he drops his arm from Ai's grasp and follows a foot behind him instead, pretending he doesn't notice the little spark of surprise that jumps across his face. He clears his throat slightly, fiddling with one of the buttons on his sleeve as he walks. “I saw Nanase-san before he went on.”

“How'd that go?” Sousuke snorts slightly, jamming his hand into his pocket so he doesn't take the excuse to rest it against Ai's back. Ai gives a little sigh, shaking his head.

“He's—hard to talk to,” he mumbles, and Sousuke rolls his eyes. It's one way of putting it, he supposes. Nanase thinks he's too good to be pulled into conversation with any of them, even Ai, and it's one of the biggest reasons he pisses Sousuke off so much. Ai shrugs, running his fingers back through his hair.

“My parents want us to be friends,” he doesn't sound very fond of the idea, and Sousuke outright frowns at it when Ai glances back at him. “I guess so we can play four-handed pieces, or just so they can invite him to parties.”

“I doubt he'd go,” he huffs in response and Ai shrugs, glancing away nervously. He's never actually been invited to any party not expressly thrown by Ai himself, and even then he gets looked at like he's something the family cat threw up on the carpet. He shrugs it off, still following after Ai, not really recognizing anything until they reach the lobby. “You'd have to invite Makoto-kun to interpret for you.”

Ai smiles again at that, looking around the lobby and blinking when he doesn't spot Rin. He steps just a little closer to Sousuke, and despite himself, he tenses slightly. Ai doesn't seem to notice, and Sousuke's glad for it, trying to force his muscles to relax. “Maybe he got lost? I'll text him.”

Sousuke hums softly in the back of his throat, glancing over Ai's shoulder as he slides his phone out of his pocket. It's new, he's fairly sure, and the screen is so big that it barely fits in one of Ai's tiny hands though he seems to have no problem texting with it. He's searching for something to say when Ai starts talking without looking up from the screen. “Kazuki-kun found his soulmate.”

His muscles lock up again at the news. Of all the people he wants to idly discuss soulmates with, Ai is the absolute last person. It's territory that's too dangerous. He doesn't know how to approach it without giving himself utterly away. He clears his throat, tries to unpaste his tongue from the roof of his mouth and nod. “W- who is it?”

“A girl from class four,” Ai finishes his message and looks up with a little smile at the corners of his mouth. He looks dreamy, curious. Sousuke wants to touch his hair again. “They both had little dogs as their marks, it's cute.”

He doesn't actually know how to answer that. He doesn't know what to say on the matter if Ai is trying to prod him into talking about his mark (because he's never seen it, Sousuke knows, despite how close they are), or if he's just sharing a bit of news. It makes his heart hammer uncomfortably in his chest, and now instead of thinking about the soft moments he might get if Ai knew—the kisses and the touching only meant for the two of them—he's stuck on the idea of Ai being disturbed, repulsed by the fact that he's supposed to be a perfect match for _Sousuke_ …

A chirp of sound from Ai's phone saves him from his own spiraling thoughts, and Ai's brow furrows as he reads the message, blinking. “Apparently Rin-senpai wasn't feeling well and had to rush home.”

He doesn't sound as disappointed as Sousuke feels by that news, but he's probably not reluctant to spend time alone in Sousuke's company. Not like he would be if he knew the truth, his mind miserably provides. Ai looks up at him, smiling once more. “Would you like to go get some food?”

Some part of him tries to say no, even as his head nods. He adjusts the one remaining strap of his bag on his shoulder and follows Ai out of the building, standing far enough from him that they won't bump or brush together accidentally, even when it means that several people carrying violin cases cut between them in a rush to get inside. “Anything you're in the mood for?”

Ai hums, thinking, and Sousuke is trying not to wonder if he can pay for his own meal or not. The last time he tried, Ai had left money in his bag to make up for it, and Sousuke had been embarrassed to do anything with him for a week. In the end, he'd used the money to get a little present for Ai, a tiny phone charm shaped like a little bird that still hangs off his phone.

“Well, there's a restaurant not far from here,” the nervous tone of Ai's voice implies that it's a place Sousuke can't afford on his own, and he digs his teeth against the inside of his cheek, deciding if he should argue or not. It always goes the same way—Ai doesn't care about spending money on him, but that's only because money doesn't mean the same thing in Ai's world that it does in Sousuke's.

Still, he gives in and nods his head, making a little motion for Ai to lead the way. He should probably be worried about how powerless he is when it comes to actually telling Ai no, but for now, he just hides his cringe as they walk in and the host raises both eyebrows. Ai fits in perfectly in his nice suit, and Sousuke probably looks like he's about to rob the place or something.

“For two, please,” Ai smiles, his voice coming out light and sweet, and the waiter stops staring long enough to nod his head and show them to a booth secluded from the rest of the people already eating. Sousuke tries not to read too much into it, settling into the seat and wrinkling his nose slightly at the expensive smell of leather next to his head.

“Have you, um,” Ai starts, then pauses, red flooding his cheeks as Sousuke turns to look at him. He ducks his head, watching his fingers trace shapes on the table instead. “Sorry, never mind.”

“Have I what?” He raises a curious eyebrow, leaning his elbows on the table and watching Ai's fingers rather than staring at his face. Ai clears his throat, his shoulders creeping towards his ears, shrinking his posture down.

“H- have you ever wondered about your, um, soulmate?” He glances up as he asks but stares at the table again immediately, and Sousuke realizes that he's tracing tiny music notes with the tip of his finger. There's a dull roar of blood in his ears, which is a relief because it means the question didn't make his heart stop entirely.

“No,” he answers, surprised by the confidence he musters. He supposes that it doesn't count as a lie. He's never wondered about who his soulmate _is_ , even if he wonders about Ai plenty. “I haven't.”

“Oh,” something jumps into Ai's expression, something that Sousuke can't quite put a name to. He shifts in his seat, and it's painfully obvious there's _something_ he wants to say. “My parents are worried I'm going to run off to hunt mine down, I think.”

“Are you?” He tries to make it sound like a joke, which is hard when he's also struggling just to keep his voice from cracking. He can taste the truth in his mouth, the way it wants to roll off his tongue. _Me,_ he clenches his jaw tighter, trying to keep the words in. _It's me, please don't be disappointed._

Ai shakes his head, and his shoulders lower slightly like he's not fighting the instinct to hide as much, and Sousuke isn't sure if that makes him feel better or not. He barks a little laugh, looking down and stilling his hands, folding them together on the surface of the table. “I'm not sure I want more of my fate to be decided for me.”

Sousuke almost cringes at that, but he forces himself still, breathing even. This isn't news, not really. He knows Ai well enough to have suspected that already. It doesn't make the knowledge sting him any less, but it's true all the same. “What do you want, then?”

“I want someone I choose to be with,” he says it quietly, curling his fingers together, interlacing them. “I know it probably sounds really silly, but I want it to be up to me.”

“It doesn't sound silly,” Sousuke shrugs, realizing he hasn't even glanced at the menu yet. He could use the chance to say that he doesn't believe in soulmates either, or that he doesn't want one, and in some ways that would be true.

But he wants _Ai_ , and he knows this is taking a step back from that. So he just picks the menu up slowly, still watching Ai rather than looking at it. “I think that makes sense.”

Ai brightens at that, nodding his head and picking up his own menu, teeth digging into his lip once more. It's a nervous habit that's become harder to ignore, just like the way Ai bites his nails. “Thanks, Yamazaki-senpai.”

He tells himself he doesn't get to be sad about the use of his surname. He grew up used to just hearing Ai call him by his given name, and it was him that put that distance there without explaining himself. It's not fair, and he knows it, especially because he regretted it the second he made the choice. He inclines his head slightly in acknowledgment, fingers tightening around the menu in his hands.

It's hard for his brain to even process what's written on it, and he ends up ordering something picked at random and hoping he doesn't hate it. Ai goes back to fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket and Sousuke watches him curiously, one eyebrow raised. Ai seems to notice it, snapping his head up and laughing awkwardly.

“I'm nervous about the audition, sorry,” he shakes his head, laying his arm down and sighing softly. “I know there were a lot of important people other than those judges there.”

“I think you did great,” Sousuke offers, wondering if that means anything really. It's not as if he knows music, or has ever thought Ai played anything badly. Still, Ai smiles, and his cheeks go a little pink.

“I have to practice a lot more to stay on the level of a lot of people there,” he answers, like he does anything _other_ than his schoolwork and piano practice. “They're so talented.”

“You are too,” he answers, probably a shade too fast. He doesn't feel bad about that at least—he's always had a hard time listening to Ai doubt himself or put himself down. He doesn't see the reason for it. Ai flushes more, his eyes going round and soft. “Don't crush your own potential.”

“Of course not,” Ai answers, sounding less dubious than before. He pauses, weighing a thought before speaking again. “Have you still been drawing?”

Sousuke hopes his cheeks aren't as warm as they feel. Outside of Rin and Ai, he hasn't really shared any of his love for art. Most of it is kept in old stacks of sketches hidden out in their fort, and in the corners of his notes when a class gets particularly boring. He shrugs his shoulders. “A little, I guess.”

“You should look at an art program for university,” Ai doesn't hesitate, and it rolls off his tongue with the air of something he's thought hard about. Sousuke blinks, trying to think of a reason why he can't.

He has them, he knows he does, but they all leave his mind the second Ai suggests it. He takes something in Sousuke's silence as a sign he should continue. “It's what you love, right? Did you want to go to school for something else?”

The truth is that Sousuke probably won't go on to a university. He'll probably end up working for the mechanic in town that lets him help out for a little bit of spending money on the weekends. He's not bad at it—engines and the like make sense to him, even if they aren't particularly interesting, and outside of getting a scholarship for swimming, he doesn't have any other resources for going away to school. 

“I haven't really thought hard about it,” this time, it is a lie. Other than his situation with Ai, it's been his biggest worry since the year started. It's not that he doesn't know what he _wants_ , but the measure of what's possible for a broke orphan isn't exactly something he can afford to ignore. Amataka has promised to help him fill out college applications, something he probably won't ever take her up on.

There're ten other kids living in the orphanage right now, and all of them are younger than Sousuke. He's become something of a house-wide older brother to all of them, rather than trying to take up any more of Amataka-san's attention with his problems. He's not bitter about it—she's not his mother, and it's obvious she's trying her best to make sure they all have the things they need, but it is only her there and Sousuke is always the first one to slide through the cracks of her attention.

“I'll probably stay around here, though,” he offers, if only in the hopes of making Ai look less sad. It works, at least, sort of—his mouth lifts into a watery smile, the same one he gets whenever they get too close to the topic of Sousuke's lack of family. 

It's empathy, he reminds himself, not pity.

He frowns when Ai pays for the food, which at least was good, he tells himself. Ai pulls a black credit card out of his wallet and puts it into the folder with the check without looking at it, a habit that has always bothered Sousuke like crazy. He knows it isn't for the purpose of showing off, Ai isn't that kind of person, but he looks at money and the value of it in a way that Sousuke can't even imagine. “You always do that.”

He's being more grumpy than he should be, especially because Ai bought him food after Sousuke spent two weeks avoiding having a real conversation with him, and hasn't even asked him about it. Ai blinks, laying his wallet gently on the table and tilting his head slightly to the side. “Do what?”

“When you pay—” he sounds like an idiot, but he keeps going anyway because trying to back out at this point would probably just make him sound worse. “You never look first.”

“Oh,” Ai pauses, like he's really wondering if he actually does do that or not, and after a second of thinking about it, he giggles softly to himself. “I guess I never think about it. It doesn't really matter, I'm going to end up paying for it anyway.”

He shrugs his shoulders, giving the waiter a smile when he sets the check down once again with a little bow that doesn't seem to bother Ai the way it does Sousuke. He does look once he takes his card out, smiling once he slides it away and writes down a number that Sousuke doesn't catch for the tip. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“Surprised your parents didn't wanna take you out,” he doesn't mean it to sound bitter, and he thinks he succeeds until Ai's shoulders flinch upward slightly. He hadn't actually looked for the Nitori family in the auditorium, assuming they'd be there. Ai relaxes after a moment, shrugging his shoulders in a sharp, forced motion.

“They were busy tonight,” he answers, and his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. Sousuke curls his hands into his pockets when they get outside, surprised when Ai falls into step next to him. His cheeks flush when Sousuke stares for a moment too long, clearing his throat softly. “I- I was going to walk home with you!”

“Sure,” he nods his head, privately thinking that it should probably be the other way around. He shakes the thought quickly out of his head, frowning. He and Ai aren't on a date, he and Ai are old friends and they're not going to be anything more than that. Ai frowns slightly at his silence but picks up with telling a story about Momo accidentally letting a beetle loose during a student council meeting, giggling softly at the description of his own horror at the thing crawling around the table while Momo cheered it on.

“He seems like a weird fit for student council,” he says with a chuckle, shaking his head. He's only met Momo a few times, either through his older brother Seijuurou or when he tags along behind Ai chattering at him with the enthusiasm of someone powered by their own internal set of batteries. Seijuurou was the swim team's captain before Rin, and the pair of brothers share a level of… intensity that makes Sousuke sure the kid must be a nightmare at meeting that even Ai describes as being stuffy.

“I think he wanted to be different than his brother,” Ai says after thinking for a moment, his hands loose at his sides. Sousuke gives them an extra glance before adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. It would be easy to reach out and slide their fingers together. 

It would be harder to deal with the fallout, Sousuke reminds himself. He nods his head, trying to clear it with the motion. “It seems like he likes you.”

He doesn't exactly mean it the way it comes out. Like Momo has a _crush_ on Ai, rather than the observation that he seems to respect and admire him. Both of them are true though Sousuke isn't sure enough of the first one to actually comment on it. 

Ai stops so abruptly it takes several long strides for Sousuke to even realize he's not moving, staring with wide eyes and red cheeks. “W- what?”

It's not exactly the reaction he was expecting because Ai doesn't look surprised or embarrassed, he looks _scared_. Sousuke blinks, lifting his hand and rubbing quickly at the back of his neck. “He just… seems to hang around a lot, and uh, listen to you.”

Not really his best save, and Ai's face doesn't catch into a smile again. He nods his head, and there's tension screaming out of his posture. Sousuke cringes internally, wondering how bad of a mistake he's just made. Ai pushes a smile onto his face a moment later, but it's plastic and strained, and his eyes are still sparkling like he's scared. “R- right. He's um, he's nice.”

The air between them stays awkward the rest of the way, and Sousuke stops outside of the orphanage with a little sigh, rolling the cuff of his jacket between two fingers. “Thanks for the food.”

“Sure!” Ai responds brightness faked. Another moment of dead air hangs between them before Ai bobs his head in a quick motion, swallowing hard enough that Sousuke can read the bob of his throat from several feet away. “I- I'll see you later, Y- Yamazaki-senpai!”

The way he hesitates on the name makes guilt curl in the pit of Sousuke's stomach, but Ai is turned and jogging down the street towards home before he can argue. 

 

Student council meetings are not Ai's favorite part of the week. He huffs softly as he settles into his seat, leaning his elbows on the table and resisting the urge to put his head down and pretend he isn't here. He rarely speaks about anything during these, and he knows a major part of the reason he's even on it is his families involvement with the school.

Momo drops into the seat next to him with a vibrant smile, wrestling his bag off of his shoulder and onto the floor next to his chair. There's the telltale clink of glass jars inside it, and Ai hides a smile behind his hand, hoping to himself that there isn't going to be another beetle escape. Even if Momo has assured him again and again that his prized stag beetles aren't dangerous, they are creepy.

“Afternoon, Ai-senpai!” He chirps, shuffling around in his seat until he's positioned the way he wants. Ai gives him a softer smile in return, inclining his head.

“Did you find any beetles today, Momo-kun?” He asks the question with a chuckle, and Momo pouts as he shakes his head.

“It's hard during the day, though, since they're nocturnal,” he shrugs his shoulders, ruffling his fingers back through his hair and sitting up at attention when Makoto walks in, quickly followed by Rei. It signals the actual start of the meeting and Makoto drops into his seat at the head of the table with a warm smile and a small flush on his cheeks.

“Sorry, I'm late, everyone!” There's something a little different in his expression, but Ai can't quite place it. Rei takes an extra moment to settle in with everything he needs to take notes on the meeting and Makoto clears his throat once more. “We've gotta decide on our booth for the culture festival.”

“I thought we didn't have to do one,” Momo whines, shaking his head and flopping onto the table. Makoto gives him an entertained look, shaking his head and laughing softly.

“We still have to have our own, unfortunately. It'll have to be something fairly simple since we have to oversee the other clubs preparations as well,” he pauses, tilting his head to the side in thought for a moment. “Maybe we could combine our project with another club, to make it a little easier.”

There're a few ideas tossed out that are quickly moved on from—a strength testing contest, a cosplay event, a haunted house. Most of them are too much work to be pulled off while overseeing the whole festival. A girl seated across from Ai hums, tilting her head. “What about soulmate speed dating? I saw it on TV once.”

Rei makes a quiet, scoffing noise in the back of his throat and for some reason, Makoto's face lights up red. “W- what would that involve from us?”

“We could bring people in as groups and then have them all compare marks,” she shrugs, raising an eyebrow. “We'd probably have to participate as well, but it would be easy to set up. We could give anyone who actually finds theirs a ticket to the maid cafe or something.”

“I don't even have a mark yet,” Momo gripes under his breath, and Makoto looks like he's floundering for a reason they _shouldn't_ do that, swallowing. He sighs softly after a moment, nodding his head flushing further.

“A- alright, why don't we put Hanamura-san's idea to a vote?” He volunteers, and glances at Rei like he's seeking some kind of help. The behavior strikes Ai as strange, enough that he decides to vote against the idea at the last minute. He doesn't really have anything of his own to contribute, and he keeps his hand so low when he votes that Rei almost skips counting his vote at all.

The vote falls in favor of the event anyway, and Makoto nods his head, the anxiety still clinging at the edges of his expression. “O- okay. That's settled then. We'll have to arrange a space to do this, and make up some signs for it next week.”

“It should be fairly simple,” Rei agrees shifting his glasses up his nose. Ai's glad at least that his mark isn't anyplace weird—even if having it on his back is slightly inconvenient. He doesn't dwell on the idea of his soulmate showing up to the silly event or not—he doesn't really want anything to do with the whole idea of them to begin with.

He's still scolding himself for asking Sousuke about his the other day. It's not exactly fair for him to try and go prying, even if Sousuke is supposed to be his best friend. As far as he knows, no one has seen Sousuke's mark at all (not that he's _asked_ anyone else), and he's always been silent when the topic comes up.

It strikes him as a little odd, but he's not a romantic like Rin is. Ai has probably seen Rin's mark a thousand times, a cherry blossom on the right side of his ribs, and at this point, most of the school has seen it too. Mostly that chalks up to luck, Rin is a swimmer and he can't exactly hide it where it's placed, but Ai also knows he's glad for it being somewhere so obvious. He hasn't had any luck finding a match yet, but it's certainly not going to dissuade a romantic like Rin.

Ai almost smiles to himself. There's no way Rin won't be at this little event. He sends a quick text about it under the table and quickly volunteers himself when Makoto asks if anyone has time to spend painting signs. It's a nice, simple job that won't have very high expectations with it. Momo raises his hand right after, beaming when he gets the same job. 

 

Preparing for the festival, at least, wasn't too hard. Ai had asked to be assigned to working with the swim club on their event, meaning most of his work outside of painting signs with Momo could be done with Rin and Sousuke.

It was their tradition to put on a 'maid cafe from hell' each year, that involved all the first and second years dressing up as maids regardless of gender, and the third-years being granted slightly more dignified butler costumes. 

Ai shows up at the very end of their practice with a notepad and a measuring tape, waving to Rin as he shouts for the time to line up and dry off for measurements. It's not as awkward as Ai was worried it would be—he knows most of the swim team by now, and the second-years are quick to comply with him, holding their arms out and only complaining slightly in Rin's direction.

“Can't we all switch to the butler outfits?” Uozumi frowns, giving the measuring tape wrapped around his chest a dubious look as Ai records the number. He's trying to keep his face from heating up from being so closed to a series of athletic, mostly undressed young men, and he's winning that battle, at least for the most part. 

“We all did it both years, no reason you can't,” Rin snorts and Ai unwraps the tape quickly, giving him a little smile and nod to show that he's done, trying even _harder_ not to flush as Sousuke steps up with a smirk on his face, goggles wrapped around his shoulder. It shouldn't be that hard, it's not like he's unaccustomed to seeing Sousuke without a shirt on, but it seems like he never really gets over the sight.

“Don't _you_ have a booth to prepare for?” Sousuke asks, rolling his shoulders before stretching his arms out, grinning slightly as Ai fumbles with the tape, trying to get it straightened out before actually using it. Ai shrugs his shoulders with a little sigh.

“Ours is pretty simple. We're doing soulmate matchmaking,” it still seems a little silly to him, but everything is pretty much prepared already. Sousuke blinks, frowning as his eyebrows jump together.

“How does that even work?” He grunts, taking a deep breath when Ai wraps the tape around his chest. He's probably imagining the way Sousuke's ears look red at the tips, leaning forward and pinching the tape together to look at the number with a small hum.

“People come in and show off their marks, I guess. We're supposed to show ours too, which is a little annoying,” he hasn't exactly figured out how he's going to keep his back on display the whole time short of simply not wearing a shirt. His lips do catch into a small smile at his next thought. “Momo-kun is mad because he doesn't have a mark yet, so he has to run the desk.”

“Poor kid,” Sousuke chuckles softly, watching Ai scribble down the number with a blink. He didn't take the measurements for last year's outfits, but he wonders how in the world they found a maid dress that fit around Sousuke. His had been the funniest to see by a long shot, and Ai still has pictures of Sousuke and Rin as maids from both years saved to his phone. They're some of his favorites—Rin with his face bright red, and Sousuke lunging forward like he's about to snatch Ai's phone right out of his hands to prevent the pictures from being taken.

Student council at least never had to do anything _that_ ridiculous. Even if Rin was still trying to convince him to try one of the dresses on. He almost gave in last year, purely out of curiosity. The second-years always seem to have fun with it, doing races up and down the halls and flipping up one anothers skirts any chance they get, while the first-years are always too shy and awkward at the beginning to join in.

“Okay,” he slides the tape away from Sousuke's arm, looking up at him with a wide smile and cocking his head slightly to the side. “All finished.”

Sousuke rolls his eyes, but the tips of his ears are definitely pink, and he huffs a little sigh before walking away. Measuring the rest of the team goes quickly, and he flips the notepad shut and turns to take it to Makoto's locker, hopefully before he leaves for the day.

Before he rounds the last corner to the third-year's hall, he hears quiet voices talking and slows down, blinking his eyes. It takes him a moment to recognize Haru's voice, despite having heard it before, and even though he shouldn't he peeks his head curiously around the corner.

To his surprise, Makoto is leaning against the wall directly in front of Haru, eyes wide and face bright red, both hands on Haru's shoulders like he's trying to hold him steady. One of Haru's hands is caught around the hem of Makoto's shirt, pulled out from where it was neatly tucked into his slacks, brow furrowed.

“So you'll spend a whole day showing other people but I can't see?” His voice is soft, and he doesn't sound amused, he sounds _wounded_. Makoto sputters, dropping his hand from Haru's shoulder to close around his fist, shaking his head sharply.

“I- I don't plan on showing _anyone_ , Haru-chan!” He's obviously unsettled, and it only take a moment for Ai to catch on to exactly what they're talking about. This is definitely something he's not supposed to be seeing, but he's too scared of being caught to move away.

“Why?” Haru sounds more demanding, dropping Makoto's shirt and unbuttoning his own instead, both eyebrows raised like he's daring Makoto to try and stop him. “You've seen mine.”

Ai can't make out the actual details from the distance, only that whatever the mark is, it's dark colored and to the left of Haru's stomach, close to his hip. It's not large, from what he can tell, and Makoto hesitates before dropping a hand and running his thumb over the surface of it, staring. He doesn't seem to be particularly focused on the fact that Haru's now standing in the hall with his shirt completely open, lips parted like he wants to say something else.

“H- Haru-chan…” Makoto's voice trails off, still rubbing the mark with his thumb. It seems almost reverent, and when Haru replies it's much softer.

“Show me,” his fingers catch the bottom of Makoto's shirt again and he leans up on his toes, but Ai wheels to turn away before he actually gets stuck watching his upperclassmen kissing in the middle of the hallway. He swallows roughly, rubbing his hands over his face before jogging his way out the door, fingers shaking. He can give Makoto the measurements tomorrow.

He can't get the image of the two of them out of his head the whole way home, and the wild spin of his thoughts spreads further out from there. He doesn't know anyone who has a soulmate of the same gender, and the idea makes his stomach flip. 

It's become more than obvious to him in the past year that he's interested in boys. Even more specifically that he's interested in Sousuke, but he's never really put stock in any of it being an actual possibility. But, the confirmation that there _are_ people out there who are… like he is, and still intended by fate to be together, it changes something in the back of his mind, settles into place some thought of happiness that he never thought he'd actually be able to get.

It doesn't mean, he knows, that his soulmate is going to be a boy. Judging by everything he's seen in his life, it probably won't be. He's not sure he'd ever be confident enough to tackle that conversation with his parents, even if it were.

But, he can _taste_ the chance of it in his mouth, and it's something that refuses to go away once he's realized it.


End file.
